The day ended and morning came. Alix awoke early and headed off to the guardhouse. She had not spoken to her mother since the previous day. Though that wasn't unusual for them as they rarely spoke. Even if they did speak their conversations were never meaningful.
They were short and held little semblance of emotion, but that was fine for Alix. She was not very social as a person and neither was her mother. It's just how they had been ever since Breine passed. Recently, there has been one thing with her mother that bothered Alix.
'Why have I never gotten a single chance to connect one of the threads to my mother?' She could connect the strings to a fish she had been holding one-sided conversations with. Rats that she had quite literally just met and named. Even a pair of fools that she started to teach.
But never once has there even been an opportunity to latch onto her own mother. Alix shook her head to clear her thoughts. 'I have other things to do today. I can't worry about anything that I don't even have a basic understanding of yet.' Alix continued on her way to the guard station. Mo in arms, of course.
'Ya sure that yer feelin' better? Ya seem a bit out of it today." Mo's worried voice rang in the girl's head. They had been talking telepathically in public more recently. Alix had always considered it a bit strange to actively talk to a fish in public. Though carrying a fish bowl everywhere with you was strange enough.
'I should be fine. My duel with that flickering ember is tomorrow so I need to be in my best shape. Today I will just talk to the guards about my encounter with the supposed Djinns and return home." Mo felt a bit more at ease. 'Alright, if ya say so." Alix walked through the streets of Nogreni.
It was quite big for a town that didn't often receive any visitors. Though big did not necessarily mean developed. For example, Undine was the only school in the entire town meaning kids either became mages or learned some other occupation from their family.
Alix arrived at the building. The guardhouse was located in the center of the town. It had a blue pyramid like roof with wooden walls and stone flooring. When Alix entered the building she was met with quite the sight. Papers were flung around everywhere. Guards where running around frantically.
Mo looked around the room. 'This place is a mess. Is this really the guardhouse?" Alix nodded. 'Yes. Though it is normally much more organized than this. Something might be wrong." One of the guards ran through to grab some papers from a desk when she saw Alix.
"Oh! You're Officer Ren's daughter right? Sorry, it seems that you've come at a bad time. Miss Ren isn't here." Alix shook her head. "I was told to come here at my nearest convenience to talk about the situation from two nights ago." The woman frowned. "From two night-OH!"
Her eyes lit up with recognition. "You were the one that we've been waiting for. Right this way! I'll take you to the captain now." The woman ran up and grabbed Alix's arm pulling her along but Alix quickly yanked her hand back. The woman looked a bit confused. "I can follow along on my own, thank you."
The woman stared at the girl for a moment before shrugging and waving for Alix to follow. As she followed Alix noticed that the woman seemed to be quite nervous about something. In fact, everyone in the guardhouse seemed on edge. 'Did something really happen?'
After around two minutes of walking the officer stopped in front of a door labeled "Interrogation." Alix squinted her eyes quizzically which picked on by the lady. "Don't worry. Normally you would be taken to the captain's office but this is where he's been for the past few hours so you can just talk to him in here." The woman smiled but Alix could tell that she was putting on airs.
She shrugged it off. 'Not my business.' The officer opened the door and Alix entered. What she walked into was an all stone room lit by a single crystal that was molded into the ceiling. There was a long wooden table in the center of this small room and sitting at the table was a stocky, messy brown haired man adorned with a red vest. This was the captain and her mother's partner, Victor Geon.
Geon looked up as the door closed. "Ah, there's the witness that I've been waiting on. Have a seat, young lady." Geon gestured across the table. Alix looked to where he gestured and noticed a wooden chair laying on it's side. She moved over, placed the chair upright, and promptly sat in it.
"So how have ya been Alix?" The man asked. "Well I was bedridden until this morning. So I guess bored would be the most appropriate answer." The man gave a hearty laugh at Alix's response. "Bored, huh? I wish I could say the same."
"I've noticed that the guardhouse seems to be quite the mess. Did something happen?" The man's laughter stopped at Alix's question. He expression became serious. "Well, I guess you do have a connection to this situation as well. Alright! I'll tell ya. One quick question though?" Victor pointed to the spot in front of Alix.
"What's up with the fish?"
...
"I see. So the abandoned member escaped last night. I can see how that could lead to some issues." Captain Geon nodded. "We don't know if they'll go back for the merchant girl or not. So we plan on setting up a group to watch over her to ensure her safety." Alix looked at the man with uncertainty written on her face. "What?" Geon asked curiously.
"If they managed to get the girl without anyone noticing once, get caught and then escape from your custody without anyone noticing. How do you expect to prevent them from taking the girl again?" Geon was shocked at by the amount of sass in the girl's voice. "Well we-"
"Did you not also just tell me that you failed to get any form of identification from the criminal including their appearance?"
"T-that's-"
"I just can not believe that you guys can be so incompetent." Alix shook her head in frustration. Victor could only listen to the girl vent before finally saying his piece.
"Look, this is our first time dealing with a crime like this in a long time. At most we have to arrest people for stealing an apple from a food stand. And that only happens once every two months." The man spoke sincerely to the young girl. He slowly drooped his body more over the table.
"We understand that we messed up. It would be strange if we didn't. But I doubt that a kid like you could have done any better. Even as the daughter of our Sala Ren." Alix rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, that should be obvious. What I am saying is that you guys need to play this smarter than you are." The captain straightened up. "I'm not sure that I follow."
"What I am saying is that it is highly unlikely that they will go back for the girl because you will increase your security around her. They are more likely to go after the person that caused them to fail their contract in the first place."
The man nodded. "So, your plan is for the guards of Nogreni to use a teenage girl as bait to catch a group of kidnappers that may not even show up?" Alix nodded.
"That is the gist of it. Though, there is no certainty that they even feel that upset at me for messing up their plans. They seemed like idiots for the most part so I do doubt that they have left town." Victor stroked his chin as he thought to himself. Mo watched and also scratched his chin with his fin.
"I see. Well it's the only plan that we've got so here's what we'll do." Alix listened intently as the man schemed. As a sorceress she always enjoyed a good scheming. How else would you make use of weak spells in combat?
After receiving the schemes details from the captain, Alix left the guardhouse to go home. 'Are ya sure this is gonna work?" Mo asked on concern.
'I mean if not, then the worst that can happen is the Djinns never meet up with me again. Which is fully possible." Mo nodded. "I guess so. Ya just got really hurt last time around and I couldn't do nothin' to help ya. I don't want it to happen again I guess." Alix smiled reassuringly at Mo.
'Then maybe I need to start training you up like those two idiots at school. You could end up being more useful to me than those two will ever be." Mo nodded a bit less upset. "Yer right. But I won't be no silly wolf. I'll stand tall like a mighty Leviathan!" Mo lifted himself out of his fishbowl and proudly stared into the distance.
'That kind of progression is impossible, Mo. But you can certainly be the best pink fish partner that anyone can wish for." Mo dropped back into the water and turned to Alix. 'That's fine, too." Mo turned to Alix resolutely.
'Alix I swear on the name that you gave me that I will never allow any dry freaks to do anything to ya. Yer ma best friend, after all."
'You are definitely my partner in spellcasting." Mo scoffed. 'That's just rude! After all the things that I helped ya with? I thought we were something special!" Alix laughed as the fish folded his fins.
'What? It ain't funny! That's it I ain't yer first mate anymore!"
'I do not believe you have the authority to revoke that privilege."
'I do it all the same! No more first mate Mo!" Alix and Mo continue to joke all the way home. Unaware, that within the shadows a figure followed them all the way home.
"I told you that the Djinns would get you back girly." The tall cloaked figure whispered before disappearing.
He needed to gather the rest of his group after all.